A Lincoln company and one from Beatrice have been named Nebraska's manufacturers of the year.

Garner Industries of Lincoln and Exmark Manufacturing of Beatrice were honored Thursday by the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce & Industry at its annual Manufacturing and Distribution Executive Summit held at CenturyLink Center Omaha.

Garner Industries, which won the award for mid-sized manufacturers, makes the BinMaster suite of monitoring and inventory-management products for bins, tanks and silos, as well as custom injection-molded plastic products. The company, which completed a $3 million expansion at its manufacturing plant at 98th Street and Cornhusker Highway last month, has about 130 employees.

Exmark Manufacturing, which makes commercial lawn mowers and other turf care equipment, has more than 500 employees at its manufacturing facility in Beatrice.

The state chamber has presented the awards annually since 2008 to Nebraska manufacturers that successfully implement innovative ways of conducting business through the use of new products, processes, technologies and strategies.

“We take great pride in honoring Exmark Manufacturing and Garner Industries with this award,” Barry Kennedy, president of the Nebraska Chamber, said in a news release. “Manufacturing is our state’s second-largest industry and a key to Nebraska’s economic growth. Both of these companies are innovation leaders in Nebraska’s manufacturing sector.”